The people

According to a Urbarium (tax register) of 1674, the village of Zilje included a total of 12 Hübe or arable land divided amongst 19 Ziljani (inhabitants of Zilje). Also evident from these documents is that the hamlets of Balkovci, Pavlini and Dejani were regarded as being part of the župa (a subunit of the dominion of a particular Lord) of Zilje. It is important to point out that these tax registers only list individuals who were subjects of the Lord for whom the register was created. There were other individuals, along with their families, living in Zilje at this time.

The 1674 Urbarium names the following individuals residing in these villages and subjects to the dominion:

If we look at Birth and Marriage Registers (matične knjige) kept by the Catholic Church in the late 17th century, we find surnames missing from this Urbarium, suggesting these families were subject of a Lord whose Urbarium has not be found, or they were free men and women. The following is a list of men mentioned in these earliest Birth Registers:

At the end of the 18th century, there were 27 households in Zilje. By 1820, we can identify 38 individual households existing in Zilje. Some of these households, and the houses themselves, have since vanished. Others have been since created, usually as delniki, i.e. by partitions of a pre-existing household into two (or more) households.